Out of step: Club owner slams bad dance move

The state’s restrictive dancing rules are under fire as punters email a Coast club owner asking when and where a boogie is allowed.

The Oceamn Street World Festival has been abandoned this year due to a funding shortfall.John Calcino from The Post Office Bar is not pleased with the outcome. Picture: Warren Lynam

The state's restrictive dancing rules are under fire as punters email a Coast club owner asking when and where a boogie is allowed.

Under new restrictions, dancing is allowed in outdoor venues and beer gardens and at weddings with up to 200 guests.

Venues can now have one person per two square metres inside, effectively doubling capacity.

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It means patrons at The Post Office on Ocean St can dance in the beer garden, and about 50 more people will be allowed inside compared to the former restrictions.

Owner John Calcino welcomed the changes, but said he felt venue operators were still being unfairly treated.

"You'd be amazed by how many people have asked us about that, as soon as (the eased restrictions) were announced I've had so many comments and email inquiries of 'can we go to your beer garden and dance'," Mr Calcino said.

"Dancing is something that's been missed by my clientele for the past seven to eight months."

The Post Office owner John Calcino has welcomed changes to coronavirus restrictions but said he felt venue operators were still being unfairly treated. Picture: Patrick Woods

He said there was hypocrisy in the government's decisions and questioned why dancing was allowed at a wedding, but not indoor venues.

He also questioned a decision to allow a full capacity Suncorp Stadium to watch the State of Origin clash on Wednesday night.

"My question is if the health advice was you can have more than 50,000 in a stadium sitting shoulder to shoulder, for two to three hours, then why is it not OK to have dancing inside a venue," he said.

"We just ask, as a group of food and beverage venue owners, it's getting into Christmas, we've controlled the virus well, let's have those final restrictions lifted."

Mr Calcino said increases to the number of patrons allowed in venues were welcomed.

He said every weekend there were queues outside his and other Ocean St venues.

Under the new restrictions his venue will be at 60 per cent capacity.

He said staff were still on reduced hours due to it not being viable to open every day.

"The government is not caring about business … they think they'll just survive," he said.

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